THE referendum on the 16th Amendment to the Constitution will take place on November 28th. The proposed amendment states: "Provision may be made by law for the refusal of bail by a court to a person charged with a serious offence where it is reasonably considered necessary to prevent the commission of a serious offence by that person".

A referendum on the proposal is deemed necessary because the Constitution guarantees the liberty of the individual and the Supreme Court, in the 1966 O'Callaghan case (and since reiterated in the Ryan case in 1989), ruled that bail could not be denied on the basis of anticipated crime.

The Government will also publish an outline of the legislation it intends to introduce should the amendment be passed, setting out the type of offences to which the new bail regime would apply, for example, murder, manslaughter, causing grievous bodily harm, specified sexual, firearms or drug trafficking offences.

It will also set out the criteria to be taken into account by a court in deciding whether bail should be refused, such as the nature of the offence, any previous convictions and whether the person has committed offences previously while on bail.